Tiki will be getting into social commerce & explore branded content: Ian Goh

Launched in 2021 by Singapore-based DOL Technology, Tiki is a short-form video app that promotes 100% original local content. Tiki is a ‘glocalised’ platform that aims to redefine the standard for short video creation and sharing and has millions of monthly active users in India. Since the last few months of operations, Tiki has become a platform where people come for the content but stay for the community. Tiki aims to cultivate an environment of “Authentic Entertainment, Peer-to-Peer support & Community”.

Ian Goh always had a passion for starting things, building businesses, exploring new ideas and just keeping an open mind on the next big thing; searching for problems to solve. He believes in providing Value First, Enjoying the Process.

In conversation with Adgully, Ian Goh, Chief Executive Officer, Tiki, elaborates on the business proposition of the short-form video platform, the focus on ‘Creator First’ proposition, how Tiki is empowering the creator community, and more.

What are the marketing strategies that Tiki is focusing on to engage with the audience?

Tiki emphasises on growing sustainably. That means spending marketing budgets in the right area to build a genuine and honest brand image. Our target has and will always be talented local creators. Investing in their growth helps to develop sticky word of mouth, which increases our reach. Thus, the best marketing strategy, I believe, is never about burning money but earning the audience’s testimonial. 

Other short-form apps do a lot of marketing to promote themselves. We, however, keep investing in our creators and encouraging them to become our brand ambassadors. Different from the old-fashioned blockbuster way of branding, we go for a revolutionary avenue of long-tailed decentralised branding with thousands of our creators scattered across the country. 

The results turned out to be beyond our expectation. Now we have 30 million monthly active users. We have a high benchmark of audience returning. If 10 people download the app, more than 7 people come back. It’s rather a healthy way of doing marketing. And all of the achievements of our brand building are based on a relatively small marketing budget, thanks to our booming creator community. 

What are the trends that are currently dominating in the industry in this space?

Consumers are expecting more from life in the post-pandemic world. Privacy and control are the things that consumers are getting from disappearing third-party cookies. Key trends that are dominating the industry are: 

  • Web3: Web 3 is providing a base to build metaversal platforms as it is a descriptor for the infrastructure that is being built through blockchain.
  • 2022 Will Be the Year of the Micro- and Nano-Influencer: Consumers view nano- and micro-influencers as “people like me,” which makes them more likely to trust and act based on their recommendations. 
  • Social Commerce: Social commerce currently accounts for 1% to 1.5% of overall e-commerce, according to EY India. The share of social commerce is expected to go up to 6% by 2025. Social commerce is not a competitor to e-commerce, but another important extension of it.

What is the vision and mission Tiki for the year ahead?

Tiki is dedicated to redefining the definition of content creator platforms in India. With so many emerging platforms, the amount of content that the audience is consuming has exploded within a span of a few years. In line with this, our vision is to create a community of real talents and our mission is to support the creators to thrive through their talents. 

Is there any special focus on the exposure of content creators?

Tiki empowers its creators based on 3 broad pillars:

  • Fame as a Service

Based on Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, self-actualisation and esteem are on the top. Tiki translates that as Fame for creators on the platform and even outside. Humans are always seeking to accumulate social capital. Tiki designs a creator ecosystem in which everyone can be verified to join. Anybody can grow to be a White V creator, then Gray V, and finally Blue V as a top influencer on Tiki. Tiki innovated and keeps managing the ecosystem for the real talented ones to break through. Along their hero journey, Tiki supports its verified creators with 100% of its traffic, ever-upgrading functions and stickers, and helpful managers, just to make creators fully express their creativity, be famous and popular. Tiki calls it Fame as a Service (FaaS). 

  • Star Monetisation

Instead of the traditional black box model of paying creators, Tiki has innovated a performance-based mechanism which is transparent and fair to the talented ones. The money they earn is only defined by the Stars that they gain from users. Star is a feature that Tiki has designed for users to send to their favourite creators or content. Different from the ‘Like’ which has been inflated and even abused on many other platforms, Star on Tiki can be viewed as a thoughtful and sincere vote from a user to a creator. Star can be earned via short videos, profile pages, and live broadcasting. 

  • Creator-oriented Community

It is never only about getting famous and making money. Creators are also here to make friends and to socialise with others. Now they have formed over 100 Family Guilds on Tiki. Some are holding panels to share video shooting skills; others are organizing offline meetups for a shared interest or for a charitable event. For instance, three Family Guilds have just had offline cleanups and tree planting on Earth Day. Tiki sponsors verified meetups for creators to entertain and learn within the community. Tiki provides creators a safe and family-like community to explore more opportunities and benefits with their peers.

Have you planned any collaboration with any brands for ad revenue purposes?

Most social media apps in India rely on ad business. In Tiki, we don’t believe this is the main way to serve the creator economy. Ads may also ruin the user experience as most come to get entertained. Ad revenue benefits the platforms themselves more than the creators. That’s against our belief of “Creators First”. 

In the first phase of monetisation, we bank on fan economy, where a user can give stars to the creator to help creators in their content creation journey. Fan economy, virtual gifting and Live streaming have already been proven in other markets.

In the second phase, we’ll be getting into social commerce and will also explore branded content with world-class trademarks.
We are confident that “Creators First” is a shared belief among many world-class brands who will naturally become our brand partners in the future. 

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